Hi there; Birdie here!
So you know how I said last weekend was the longest weekend? I had no idea how right I was. We had the snow day Friday and then I went to the CDC (more on that in the next paragraph), but then we had two more snow days, and didn't start class until 10 (instead of the usual 8) yesterday morning. I spent the first snow day watching the lectures I missed from Monday, which was 6 hours of class. The second day I spent studying for the immunology exam we had as soon as we got back (it went totally fine, btw. I had immuno in undergrad, so I wasn't worried). I did have a bit of fun one of them sliding around on the ice with a friend. I didn't even attempt driving on either of the snow days--laugh all you want, people who live with actual winter on a regular basis, but 1) we don't have salt trucks. Like, in the state, at all. 2) We're not used to it, which means about 95% of people on the road will not have any idea what they're doing, which makes for unsafe conditions. Yeah, no thanks. Although I really will have to go to the grocery store tomorrow... I'm glad we had one of those snow days since I don't know how I'd have gotten through all the lectures without it, but I really wish we hadn't now. It's not as if I wasn't already worried about how I'd finish the anatomy dissection...and now we're going to have class until 5 for about 3 weeks now to make up the time. Which is not much fun, especially when we have 4 hours of neuro in one day.
Anyway, the CDC trip. It was really quite a lot of driving...about 8 hours each way. We had two vans--not the mildly creepy white vans you might think of as a school van. They were really nice, the same sort of minivan my parents have. It wound up being a first years van and an everyone else van. The faculty member who was in charge of the trip, Dr. W, rode in our van for the second half of the trip there, and drove all the way back. When the other van followed us, they kept missing lane changes and taking the wrong exit...it got to be kind of a running thing.
When we first got there, everyone was talking about changing, but I'd only brought business casual clothes (as requested) for the actual event day, not for the reception beforehand. I hadn't been expecting to have time to change (and really we didn't--we got there a bit late--but everyone else was in sweatpants and such and really needed to change). Luckily it wasn't too formal; I put on my nicer shoes, took off the sweatshirt, fixed my hair and changed my jewelry and then my jeans were fine. We checked into the CDC building--we had to show our drivers' licenses--and got our security badges, only I didn't have one. I wasn't the only one; I think there were 3 people in our group who didn't. And I know it was not because I didn't register early enough, especially since I got the T-shirt the next day. We had to turn in the badges at the end anyway, so I don't really care, though. It couldn't go in my scrapbook anyway. ;)
The speakers the first night were mainly about why they wanted us there--about how vets are valuable in public health. One speaker was a DVM/MPH who worked in occupational health, which left at least many of us wondering why exactly she needed a DVM for that (or maybe better phrased as how she was using her DVM in that). We also split into small groups and did an exercise in wordplay involving a penny...it's kind of hard to explain, but it was fun in a riddle-y sort of way, and it made me feel pretty clever when I helped get the answers. There was a reception at the bowling alley in the hotel (yes, that was a thing) with quite good pizza and little cupcakes. We didn't stay for long, though--it had been kind of a long day.
The second day's speakers were more focused on presenting us with the opportunities for DVMs in public health (though, see above: sometimes it was more like opportunities in public health just in general). One was a DVM/PhD who worked on vaccine development and did some procedures on bats in association with bringing in a colony. That was my favorite (I also happen to quite like bats). Some of the stuff they told us about Dr. W had already told us about, but some of it was new. Oh, and we also did a little exercise with passing around wristbands to mimic the spread of a disease. The fluff was a modified rabies virus that was basically a zombie virus, so that was fun. Our hotel room came with a red wristband (initial infected, first to start passing out wristbands), but some people got cute bat beanie babies. I kind of want one. Since I didn't have a badge, I didn't get assigned a tour, but they had an opening in the museum "tour" so I took it. Really it was just an initial presentation and then an opportunity to wander the museum, but I really enjoyed it. All the historical scientific stuff was really cool, and the temporary exhibit was about social justice ("health is a human right"), which I was pretty into. If you get a chance to visit the CDC museum, I recommend it--at least if you're a science/historical science nerd like me.
After my CDC experience, I don't think I want to go into public health, at least not right after graduation/in the ways they focused on. I'd rather not go into regulatory government work that doesn't involve much touching of actual animals, and I'm not really interested in food animal work either. I'm coming to realize that I kind of just want to be a small animal GP; I don't have a special interest in anything, I just want to look at all sorts of diagnostic tests and figure out what's wrong with the pet and help its owners make it better. And I don't see why that can't be okay. (some of that is coming from the LVMA networking event--there was one particularly intimidating veterinarian who was more like a harsh interviewer).
We had our first path club meeting this week, on the first day back after snow days. It was a bit of a mess, to be honest, but I consider it like a bad anatomy exam: I passed, and now it's over and I don't have to worry about it anymore. For the sake of completeness, I'll say that the president wasn't able to eat the food I ordered (which I almost missed ordering, too), only one person signed up for open house, and the presentation was pretty insubstantial (the snow days messed with planning for dates). But we have a treasurer and secretary now, so that's honestly better than I was expecting. I'm not looking forward to spending all day at the path club table at open house, though. Especially since there are 3 other things that want me to work for them, and especially since I really wanted to go to a convention that weekend. Don't try telling me I'll be glad I did open house, either. I could do open house next year; I can't do the convention then.
Today there was a "Friday in the courtyard" event (guess where), which happened to be right after class due to making up snow day time. A good number of first years went (probably because of the 'already there' thing); I stayed for about an hour and had a hot dog. They had free beer, which is great if you like that sort of thing. Tomorrow Farm Animal Club is putting on a cochon de lait--a pig roast with all sorts of sides and I don't even know what. I already paid the $5 or whatever for a wristband, so I'll be there. Other than that, as much as I would like to go see a movie or read The Fault in Our Stars (I'm getting it from the library; I want to read it before the movie comes out), I'll probably be spending most of the weekend studying for our neuroscience exam. Speaking of which, I should probably at least look at that tonight...
Friday, January 31, 2014
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Getting back into it, and the longest of weekends
Hi there; Birdie here!
This week (really last Friday afternoon), we started up our normal classes. Currently that consists of immunology, neuroscience, and anatomy III. Anatomy will be focusing on large animal stuff, but we're still working on comparative in the head right now, finishing up with the eye and ear and all the vessels and nerves. I'm going to be really glad to be done with anatomy; it actually ends before the end of the semester with no Anatomy IV! And have I mentioned we'll get to touch live animals this semester for anatomy? We'll need to have stethoscopes starting in a couple of weeks, which is a bit of a problem for people who just found out about that from the school last week, but luckily I already have one. I'm really excited about that, but it probably means I'll need to do more dissection outside of class time, boo. Immunology is really fun because our course coordinator/main lecturer is a little bit crazy, in a good way. She explains things with lots of metaphors (often similar to the way I think about it) and is great at keeping the class engaged. Right now it's not difficult for me at all since I had immunology in undergrad. We've only had 2 hours of neuro so far, which was reiterating stuff I've already learned in two classes, one of which was physio last semester. We're going to be doing a sheep brain dissection, which I've also done (that's what I get for taking neuro in undergrad) but I'm still looking forward to it.
Path club has an actual president now, instead of just me as VP being acting president! Our first meeting is Thursday and I've done a lot to set up for it. I'm hoping our new president can take over with it now, but she hasn't emailed me back yet.
Last night we had a bachelor auction to raise money for the Aescupalalian Ball or whatever it's called. The boys themselves weren't on auction--they just represented packages of a variety of gift cards/voucher--but they danced like they were. Some of them weren't even bachelors (one of my classmates "bought" her husband, and the pathologist MC and her boyfriend both went up). It was fun, but went on significantly longer than I wanted to stay. They basically paused for a song or more between each guy to let people drink so they would bid more (they weren't even very subtle about it). It was a little much for me, to be honest, especially when it went on for three hours. I'm glad I went, but I'm not sure I'll go next year.
Today I spent most of the day at the LVMA winter meeting. I went to a talk about feline intestinal diseases and one about intestinal surgery and a couple of hours on practice management. I'm kind of hoping I can apply those last hours to my VBMA certificate, but I'm not sure whether it will make a difference. I'll get the certificate either way, and I don't think those 2 hours will push me from silver to gold level. It was a little awkward, especially since I was alone, since the intended audience was obviously veterinarians, not students. I felt a little out of place, especially when one of the organizers talked to me between sessions and mentioned how it was strange I was going to lectures when I didn't have to, basically. He didn't mean it like that, but I still left not long after that. I am going to go back in an hour or so, though. They're doing a student speed networking event, so I'm going to that. Hopefully it will be good!
So I mentioned how this is such a long weekend? It started with a snow day yesterday. Yes, in Baton Rouge! It wasn't proper snow, but the roads were icy in the morning (I would have been too terrified to drive to school even if it was open!) and I had to scrape a bunch of ice off my car when I went to drive today. Plus the stairs in front of our apartment had a thick sheet of ice that made them really dangerous. It wasn't snowy enough to make a snowman or anything. I ordered snow boots for my ski trip with my family over Mardi Gras break and read Insurgent and didn't do any studying. And the weekend will be even longer because I'm not going to class on Monday--I'll be in Atlanta for the CDC veterinary day! We're leaving early tomorrow morning. I'm definitely looking forward to it. I already have my bag mostly packed!
So of course I'll be very busy next week making everything up (me more than most). Luckily I'm only missing anatomy lab on Monday. That's bad enough, but I was worried they'd try to make up neuro lab then, too, since the sheep brain dissection was supposed to be yesterday. Looks like I'll be watching a bunch of recorded lectures! I'm pretty sure it's worth it, though. :D
This week (really last Friday afternoon), we started up our normal classes. Currently that consists of immunology, neuroscience, and anatomy III. Anatomy will be focusing on large animal stuff, but we're still working on comparative in the head right now, finishing up with the eye and ear and all the vessels and nerves. I'm going to be really glad to be done with anatomy; it actually ends before the end of the semester with no Anatomy IV! And have I mentioned we'll get to touch live animals this semester for anatomy? We'll need to have stethoscopes starting in a couple of weeks, which is a bit of a problem for people who just found out about that from the school last week, but luckily I already have one. I'm really excited about that, but it probably means I'll need to do more dissection outside of class time, boo. Immunology is really fun because our course coordinator/main lecturer is a little bit crazy, in a good way. She explains things with lots of metaphors (often similar to the way I think about it) and is great at keeping the class engaged. Right now it's not difficult for me at all since I had immunology in undergrad. We've only had 2 hours of neuro so far, which was reiterating stuff I've already learned in two classes, one of which was physio last semester. We're going to be doing a sheep brain dissection, which I've also done (that's what I get for taking neuro in undergrad) but I'm still looking forward to it.
Path club has an actual president now, instead of just me as VP being acting president! Our first meeting is Thursday and I've done a lot to set up for it. I'm hoping our new president can take over with it now, but she hasn't emailed me back yet.
Last night we had a bachelor auction to raise money for the Aescupalalian Ball or whatever it's called. The boys themselves weren't on auction--they just represented packages of a variety of gift cards/voucher--but they danced like they were. Some of them weren't even bachelors (one of my classmates "bought" her husband, and the pathologist MC and her boyfriend both went up). It was fun, but went on significantly longer than I wanted to stay. They basically paused for a song or more between each guy to let people drink so they would bid more (they weren't even very subtle about it). It was a little much for me, to be honest, especially when it went on for three hours. I'm glad I went, but I'm not sure I'll go next year.
Today I spent most of the day at the LVMA winter meeting. I went to a talk about feline intestinal diseases and one about intestinal surgery and a couple of hours on practice management. I'm kind of hoping I can apply those last hours to my VBMA certificate, but I'm not sure whether it will make a difference. I'll get the certificate either way, and I don't think those 2 hours will push me from silver to gold level. It was a little awkward, especially since I was alone, since the intended audience was obviously veterinarians, not students. I felt a little out of place, especially when one of the organizers talked to me between sessions and mentioned how it was strange I was going to lectures when I didn't have to, basically. He didn't mean it like that, but I still left not long after that. I am going to go back in an hour or so, though. They're doing a student speed networking event, so I'm going to that. Hopefully it will be good!
So I mentioned how this is such a long weekend? It started with a snow day yesterday. Yes, in Baton Rouge! It wasn't proper snow, but the roads were icy in the morning (I would have been too terrified to drive to school even if it was open!) and I had to scrape a bunch of ice off my car when I went to drive today. Plus the stairs in front of our apartment had a thick sheet of ice that made them really dangerous. It wasn't snowy enough to make a snowman or anything. I ordered snow boots for my ski trip with my family over Mardi Gras break and read Insurgent and didn't do any studying. And the weekend will be even longer because I'm not going to class on Monday--I'll be in Atlanta for the CDC veterinary day! We're leaving early tomorrow morning. I'm definitely looking forward to it. I already have my bag mostly packed!
So of course I'll be very busy next week making everything up (me more than most). Luckily I'm only missing anatomy lab on Monday. That's bad enough, but I was worried they'd try to make up neuro lab then, too, since the sheep brain dissection was supposed to be yesterday. Looks like I'll be watching a bunch of recorded lectures! I'm pretty sure it's worth it, though. :D
Friday, January 17, 2014
Three day weekend!
Hi there; Birdie here!
Sorry I didn't write last week. It wasn't even that I was busy, I just sort of got out of the habit of blog writing and didn't feel like it. Not to worry, though--here I am!
I've really enjoyed our PBL class. Last week's clinical lab, I did get to use my stethoscope! The hypothetical dog had a PDA, so the clinical lab was split into EKG, echocardiography, and auscultation. Unfortunately, since there were three stations and three groups at a time, we only had 15 minutes at each station. Which wasn't too bad for the echo and EKG where we were just watching/learning about it, but it wasn't enough time for us to really learn how to listen for the heart when we had to worry about leaving time for the next seven people in our group. We also had an anatomy lab last Friday, which I don't entirely understand the point of...it was mostly just a review of the heart, which we just had last semester. We did see how the valves lined up with the rib spaces where we auscultate, I guess, but I'm not sure that's worth the hours of lab time.
This week's case was a sheep, and the sheep clinical day was FUN! I tipped a sheep (with help), auscultated the heart and rumen, and drew blood from the jugular. It was my first ever attempt at a blood draw, and they said that if you can get a jug on a sheep (where it's a blind stick), you can do anything, so that made me really happy! Plus I was working on the same sheep as my friend, which made it better. For this case, though, there was a lot more time wasting while we waiting for results and the coordinator tried to drag it out all week. The thing is, the proper diagnosis (pregnancy toxemia w/ hypocalcemia) was the one thing we all already knew about sheep because we had a whole lecture on it in physio I. So we knew what it was by the first or second day, and they didn't seem to be expecting that. Yesterday we literally just hung out all day, not getting any results, which was rather annoying. But when we sent in our final plan of action, the last email we got was what would have been the "perfect ending" if this was a video game--both the sheep that was our patient and the twin lambs she was carrying survived! Other groups who did C-sections had one or both of the lambs die, so it really made us feel awesome that we had a 100% survival rate (even though one of the lambs' heartbeats wasn't found on ultrasound, which I'm still a little confused about. We thought that one was already dead).
Last weekend I went to the Dream Center clinic in New Orleans again. I brought my stethoscope, though I only wound up listening to one heart. We had a bunch of dogs where we had to clip their nails and they didn't care for it, but it was fun. I was with a classmate, and we took turns examining, giving vaccines/dewormer, etc., and holding for the other one to do all that. I think I was pretty good with the vaccines--I only had to restick once. There was way too much excitement at the end, though--when we went to take our picture at the end, the police officer who had the camera-phone went to back up, tripped over a pile of bricks behind him, and hit his head on the metal wall behind that! At first I thought he would just get up and be fine, but he had a concussion and his head wound was bleeding like a head wound, which is to say, a lot. Then my friend (the one who I worked on the sheep with, and who I had ridden to the clinic with) had come with her boyfriend as well, and he showed up when that happened, and literally passed out at the sight of the blood (I hadn't really thought that actually happened!). So then she freaked out and had to be brought away and go sit down. Both of them were fine afterwards, but I wound up driving them home. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon playing pokemon together, which was nice.
Like I said in the title, this is a three-day weekend. I'm going home, and hoping to see at least one movie between Saving Mr. Banks and August Osage County (which I had been going to see last weekend with my mom, but she got sick, so I went to see Catching Fire by myself instead). Our breaks are spaced much more nicely this semester. Instead of having two breaks within a couple weeks at the very end of the semester, we have two days off after the weekend for Mardi Gras (which I think I'll be spending skiing with my family) and a week for spring break the week that ends with Good Friday. The one negative about that is I think most spring breaks come after Easter, not before, so it might be hard to do, say, a road trip with my cousin like I wanted. But I think my sister might be out at the same time, so who knows.
I've got quite a lot on my plate this semester. First, officerships: I'm on the committee in charge of organizing fundraisers for Josh Project, I'm historian for Diagnostic Imaging Club, and I'm acting president for Pathology Club. I'm still working on how to get people to come to Path Club, since I wound up VP by being the only non-3rd year to show up to elections. So I have a bunch to plan for that meeting/this semester. I've also signed up to feed birds again, but day birds this time. I probably won't do it next year, but I wanted to get experience with all the birds. I'm also going to SAVMA Symposium in Colorado in March, and probably going to at least a bit of the LVMA conference (Lousiana vet association) and the diversity symposium around spring break, if I can manage it. And of course I'm going to the CDC veterinary day the week after next, and I'm not entirely sure what's going on with that. There's a Spay Day that weekend that I signed up for, but I'm not sure when we're leaving and so if I'll be able to make it.
Of course I have a ton to do for open house, too, which is rather upsetting because that weekend I was planning to go home and also go to New Orleans Comic Con, which happens to be that weekend and which Matt Smith will be at. I'm still going home on Friday--my whole family is really excited about the Lego Movie and we're all going to see it together the day it comes out. But I'll probably have to drive back here early Saturday. First years are in charge of a lot of open house, and it's mandatory for all of us to be there. Plus Path Club will have a booth, which I'll probably need to man, and my other clubs (which is a lot if you count the ones I'm not an officer in too) will probably want me to do stuff as well, so obviously I can't do it all.
I've nearly finished applying for all my summer stuff now. The NASA program confirmed they got my application, and the Banfield one confirmed that AND set up an interview (February 3rd). I'm still waiting on my last recommendation before I can send off the Tulane Primate Center one, though, and that's my first choice since it's close to my parents' house and has a lot more variety than the other two. I won't hear about that one or the NASA one until March, so I really hope Banfield is a bit like vet schools in that they'll do interviews and then talk amongst themselves and not send out decisions for a while. I'm not sure what I'd do if Banfield offered me a spot before I heard back from the other two--say yes, I guess, if I had to decide right then, but I'd rather hear back from all three before deciding.
Oh, one more random little thing: changing tires is a lot easier than I remember. When I was driving home the other day, my front right wheel went right into a big square pot hole, and when I took the turn I knew it had ruined my tire. Luckily my 3rd year roommate was driving by and stopped to help me. She took me to the tire place, but then we were told/I remembered that you need to have the rim and can't just buy a tire, so we went back and put the spare on together. We knew perfectly how to change a tire between the two of us, and it was a lot easier than I remembered from the last time I changed a tire on my old car. We took it into the shop and I had it back in a few hours, so it wasn't actually that bad, but it was quite stressful when it happened. I got insurance on that tire so if that happens again (which it might--that road is stupid, and if cars are coming the other way it's hard to avoid those pot holes) I won't have to pay quite as much for a new tire.
Sorry I didn't write last week. It wasn't even that I was busy, I just sort of got out of the habit of blog writing and didn't feel like it. Not to worry, though--here I am!
I've really enjoyed our PBL class. Last week's clinical lab, I did get to use my stethoscope! The hypothetical dog had a PDA, so the clinical lab was split into EKG, echocardiography, and auscultation. Unfortunately, since there were three stations and three groups at a time, we only had 15 minutes at each station. Which wasn't too bad for the echo and EKG where we were just watching/learning about it, but it wasn't enough time for us to really learn how to listen for the heart when we had to worry about leaving time for the next seven people in our group. We also had an anatomy lab last Friday, which I don't entirely understand the point of...it was mostly just a review of the heart, which we just had last semester. We did see how the valves lined up with the rib spaces where we auscultate, I guess, but I'm not sure that's worth the hours of lab time.
This week's case was a sheep, and the sheep clinical day was FUN! I tipped a sheep (with help), auscultated the heart and rumen, and drew blood from the jugular. It was my first ever attempt at a blood draw, and they said that if you can get a jug on a sheep (where it's a blind stick), you can do anything, so that made me really happy! Plus I was working on the same sheep as my friend, which made it better. For this case, though, there was a lot more time wasting while we waiting for results and the coordinator tried to drag it out all week. The thing is, the proper diagnosis (pregnancy toxemia w/ hypocalcemia) was the one thing we all already knew about sheep because we had a whole lecture on it in physio I. So we knew what it was by the first or second day, and they didn't seem to be expecting that. Yesterday we literally just hung out all day, not getting any results, which was rather annoying. But when we sent in our final plan of action, the last email we got was what would have been the "perfect ending" if this was a video game--both the sheep that was our patient and the twin lambs she was carrying survived! Other groups who did C-sections had one or both of the lambs die, so it really made us feel awesome that we had a 100% survival rate (even though one of the lambs' heartbeats wasn't found on ultrasound, which I'm still a little confused about. We thought that one was already dead).
Last weekend I went to the Dream Center clinic in New Orleans again. I brought my stethoscope, though I only wound up listening to one heart. We had a bunch of dogs where we had to clip their nails and they didn't care for it, but it was fun. I was with a classmate, and we took turns examining, giving vaccines/dewormer, etc., and holding for the other one to do all that. I think I was pretty good with the vaccines--I only had to restick once. There was way too much excitement at the end, though--when we went to take our picture at the end, the police officer who had the camera-phone went to back up, tripped over a pile of bricks behind him, and hit his head on the metal wall behind that! At first I thought he would just get up and be fine, but he had a concussion and his head wound was bleeding like a head wound, which is to say, a lot. Then my friend (the one who I worked on the sheep with, and who I had ridden to the clinic with) had come with her boyfriend as well, and he showed up when that happened, and literally passed out at the sight of the blood (I hadn't really thought that actually happened!). So then she freaked out and had to be brought away and go sit down. Both of them were fine afterwards, but I wound up driving them home. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon playing pokemon together, which was nice.
Like I said in the title, this is a three-day weekend. I'm going home, and hoping to see at least one movie between Saving Mr. Banks and August Osage County (which I had been going to see last weekend with my mom, but she got sick, so I went to see Catching Fire by myself instead). Our breaks are spaced much more nicely this semester. Instead of having two breaks within a couple weeks at the very end of the semester, we have two days off after the weekend for Mardi Gras (which I think I'll be spending skiing with my family) and a week for spring break the week that ends with Good Friday. The one negative about that is I think most spring breaks come after Easter, not before, so it might be hard to do, say, a road trip with my cousin like I wanted. But I think my sister might be out at the same time, so who knows.
I've got quite a lot on my plate this semester. First, officerships: I'm on the committee in charge of organizing fundraisers for Josh Project, I'm historian for Diagnostic Imaging Club, and I'm acting president for Pathology Club. I'm still working on how to get people to come to Path Club, since I wound up VP by being the only non-3rd year to show up to elections. So I have a bunch to plan for that meeting/this semester. I've also signed up to feed birds again, but day birds this time. I probably won't do it next year, but I wanted to get experience with all the birds. I'm also going to SAVMA Symposium in Colorado in March, and probably going to at least a bit of the LVMA conference (Lousiana vet association) and the diversity symposium around spring break, if I can manage it. And of course I'm going to the CDC veterinary day the week after next, and I'm not entirely sure what's going on with that. There's a Spay Day that weekend that I signed up for, but I'm not sure when we're leaving and so if I'll be able to make it.
Of course I have a ton to do for open house, too, which is rather upsetting because that weekend I was planning to go home and also go to New Orleans Comic Con, which happens to be that weekend and which Matt Smith will be at. I'm still going home on Friday--my whole family is really excited about the Lego Movie and we're all going to see it together the day it comes out. But I'll probably have to drive back here early Saturday. First years are in charge of a lot of open house, and it's mandatory for all of us to be there. Plus Path Club will have a booth, which I'll probably need to man, and my other clubs (which is a lot if you count the ones I'm not an officer in too) will probably want me to do stuff as well, so obviously I can't do it all.
I've nearly finished applying for all my summer stuff now. The NASA program confirmed they got my application, and the Banfield one confirmed that AND set up an interview (February 3rd). I'm still waiting on my last recommendation before I can send off the Tulane Primate Center one, though, and that's my first choice since it's close to my parents' house and has a lot more variety than the other two. I won't hear about that one or the NASA one until March, so I really hope Banfield is a bit like vet schools in that they'll do interviews and then talk amongst themselves and not send out decisions for a while. I'm not sure what I'd do if Banfield offered me a spot before I heard back from the other two--say yes, I guess, if I had to decide right then, but I'd rather hear back from all three before deciding.
Oh, one more random little thing: changing tires is a lot easier than I remember. When I was driving home the other day, my front right wheel went right into a big square pot hole, and when I took the turn I knew it had ruined my tire. Luckily my 3rd year roommate was driving by and stopped to help me. She took me to the tire place, but then we were told/I remembered that you need to have the rim and can't just buy a tire, so we went back and put the spare on together. We knew perfectly how to change a tire between the two of us, and it was a lot easier than I remembered from the last time I changed a tire on my old car. We took it into the shop and I had it back in a few hours, so it wasn't actually that bad, but it was quite stressful when it happened. I got insurance on that tire so if that happens again (which it might--that road is stupid, and if cars are coming the other way it's hard to avoid those pot holes) I won't have to pay quite as much for a new tire.
Monday, January 6, 2014
Welcome back!
Hi there; Birdie here!
I kind of meant to do an admissions sort of post, interview tips or something like that, over the break, but...well, after a semester of vet school I had a lot of relaxing to catch up on. Besides ordering a couple of textbooks for this semester, I don't think I did anything useful, and I'm quite pleased with that. Oh, and I got a stethoscope for Christmas! The plastic tubing is teal, and the bell (the part you hold against the animal to listen) is rainbow. I like it a lot.
We just started classes today, and by "classes" I mean PBL. In case I haven't mentioned before, that means Problem Based Learning--we get a case to work on as a group, diagnose with whatever tests and suggest treatment, learning about absolutely everything related to the case (/breed/disease process/medication/etc.) along the way. Our first two weeks are all PBL, no classes. Which didn't stop my group from being there 8-3 as usual, but we're not starting until 9 tomorrow, so that's nice. We have one case for each of the two weeks, and an exam (about the "learning issues" we're supposed to cover while working this up) on Tuesday when we come back after MLK day. It includes a couple of "clinical labs" which I'm hoping will be fun and also kind of hoping they will give me an opportunity to use my stethoscope.
This week's case is canine. We were really surprised when our signalment was a 6 month old puppy who was just in for a routine exam, but he's shaping up to be plenty of a case. PBL is really fun! My group is awesome, and we're totally on the right track. They've started moving the client communication into first year too, so we got to take our history with the facilitator doctor acting as client. He did annoyingly fail to mention things like that the dog is coughing even though we asked if he had any other concerns, but he's really chill. It's really cool to be diagnosing things! And we got to go down to the clinics...mostly to get paperwork (we have to fill out the proper forms to get additional diagnostics, just like real life--it's so that we get used to where they are), but we also talked to one clinician to ask about the way something was on the price sheet.
Last night I went to a potluck sort of dinner party, and that was great. The paella was really good, and the pie I made was a hit! It was nice to hang out with some vet school people outside of class. I need to do that more often.
Well, I've got some learning issues to research and differentials to come up with. But I just wanted to blog first because this semester is looking pretty good!
I kind of meant to do an admissions sort of post, interview tips or something like that, over the break, but...well, after a semester of vet school I had a lot of relaxing to catch up on. Besides ordering a couple of textbooks for this semester, I don't think I did anything useful, and I'm quite pleased with that. Oh, and I got a stethoscope for Christmas! The plastic tubing is teal, and the bell (the part you hold against the animal to listen) is rainbow. I like it a lot.
We just started classes today, and by "classes" I mean PBL. In case I haven't mentioned before, that means Problem Based Learning--we get a case to work on as a group, diagnose with whatever tests and suggest treatment, learning about absolutely everything related to the case (/breed/disease process/medication/etc.) along the way. Our first two weeks are all PBL, no classes. Which didn't stop my group from being there 8-3 as usual, but we're not starting until 9 tomorrow, so that's nice. We have one case for each of the two weeks, and an exam (about the "learning issues" we're supposed to cover while working this up) on Tuesday when we come back after MLK day. It includes a couple of "clinical labs" which I'm hoping will be fun and also kind of hoping they will give me an opportunity to use my stethoscope.
This week's case is canine. We were really surprised when our signalment was a 6 month old puppy who was just in for a routine exam, but he's shaping up to be plenty of a case. PBL is really fun! My group is awesome, and we're totally on the right track. They've started moving the client communication into first year too, so we got to take our history with the facilitator doctor acting as client. He did annoyingly fail to mention things like that the dog is coughing even though we asked if he had any other concerns, but he's really chill. It's really cool to be diagnosing things! And we got to go down to the clinics...mostly to get paperwork (we have to fill out the proper forms to get additional diagnostics, just like real life--it's so that we get used to where they are), but we also talked to one clinician to ask about the way something was on the price sheet.
Last night I went to a potluck sort of dinner party, and that was great. The paella was really good, and the pie I made was a hit! It was nice to hang out with some vet school people outside of class. I need to do that more often.
Well, I've got some learning issues to research and differentials to come up with. But I just wanted to blog first because this semester is looking pretty good!
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